*Torturing
crimes suspect without counsel now illegal
Kaduna State
Governor, Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, yesterday ordered the reopening of tertiary
institutions closed down due to security challenges in Southern Kaduna.
A statement
by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the governor, Samuel
Aruwan, said government announced the reopening following improved security
situation in the southern part of the state.
Aruwan,
however, disclosed that the state had decided to adopt a multi-campus structure
for its tertiary institutions and assigned at least one campus to each council
area.
“The new
policy has been approved by the State Executive Council as a means to further
expand access to higher education, make accreditation of courses more
cost-effective and respond to the desire of several communities to host
tertiary institutions.
“The
government explained that a multi-campus structure will help to make the
state’s tertiary institutions more inclusive and expand the range of courses
that students can study by making most courses available in all campuses,” the
statement reads.
Meanwhile,
the state government has said torturing crime suspects, without obtaining
confessional statement, in the absence of a defence counsel to accused persons
is now an illegal act.
Director of
Public Prosecutions, Kaduna State Ministry of Justice, Bayero Dari, said the
development was the outcome of the Administration of Justice Law signed by
Governor El-Rufai, which came into effect on May 29, 2017.
In an
interview with journalists after the opening session of a three-day training
for stakeholders on administration of justice in Kaduna and promoting United
Nations convention against torture, the director said the new law would
revolutionise the process of obtaining statements, arrests, prosecution and a
timeline, within which people could remain in prison.
Dari added
that the state government has already setup a monitoring committee against
torture.His words: “Now you can no longer be arrested by proxy, meaning that
you can no longer be arrested for offence committed by someone else.
“Secondly,
you cannot be interviewed by a police officer in the absence of your counsel.
Your legal representative must be around and once the statement is taken, it
must be taken with a digital recorder.“A chief magistrate has the right to
visit any detention facility and ask about any detained person, why he is
detained and how long he has been detained,” he said.
Speaking
earlier, Head of Office, Avocats SANS Frontieres, Angela Uwandu, cautioned
security agencies to desist from torturing accused persons to obtain
information, stressing that such means of confession is barbaric and against
the laws of the land.
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